To The Other Side
by Dgcakes
Summary: During a fight, a different version of the RPM Ranger Team gets sent to Corinth city, along with their enemy. The two teams must combine to defeat the evil Lord Zygon and discover his intentions. Slash, Diggy, Kenaya, AU
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

* * *

Being a Power Ranger isn't really a glamorous job. Sure, sometimes events or parties were thrown for the team, children sometimes got to come and meet the team, asking them questions as well as giving praise, and hell, they even got to play with the coolest, most high tech things available in Corinth. But really, the team's life mostly seemed to consist of fighting. Some days, it was almost as if they did nothing but get up at odd hours to deal with yet another damn Attackbot, yet another swarm of grinders, yet more of the city getting destroyed.

As if all that wasn't bad enough, sometimes their tech just went haywire for no reason or one of their teammates would get turned evil. Dillon had had the Venjix virus slowly taking him over for a while till Dr. K had managed to synthesize a temporary cure for it. He was still without memories and still looking for his sister, but at least he wasn't turning evil all the time right? Provided everyone's suits worked and didn't require putting engine cells in backwards to not freeze them in time, things were okay till new Attackbots they couldn't handle showed up.

Presently, Ziggy Grover, Ranger Operator Series Green, was suffering a lot from his suit. He already hadn't been the ideal choice for it – having had to bond with the morpher only so it wouldn't fall into the hands of the evil Tenaya 7, Venjix Human Infiltration Attackbot. The young man really had never wanted to be a Power Ranger, knowing with all his heart that'd be one of the worst things in the world for him. Firstly, because he was a wimpy little coward who no one really could look up to or admire, but also because he knew he couldn't handle the technology's power or all the fighting. The team practically hating him from the get-go was also a drawback (and they'd hated him before he'd even been a ranger) but eventually, they'd grown as a family, so that was okay.

Locked in the bathroom he usually shared with Series Black (each team member had a bathroom with shower attached to their room, apparently for efficiency of cleaning and getting to work), Ziggy was grimacing at his reflection. It was pretty hard to get noticed when you were the dorky kid in a group of beautiful, strong and powerful fighters, but he didn't exactly want to get noticed for how he looked right then. His thin and small figure was covered in bruises and swollen red marks from their most recent battles. Ziggy's suit wasn't holding up very well and instead of just getting the crap kicked out of him unmorphed, he was getting beaten up even more while in the Ranger attire as well. With a large amount of makeup he'd had to go on errands for Summer and Gemma to get (because what male Power Ranger went shopping for makeup for himself?) the young male had to cover up each of the bruises and hope they didn't leave him looking like a girl who was trying to hide when her boyfriend got rough.

Really, people did somewhat expect a group that fought that much to be a bit banged up. But none of the team bruised as easily as Ziggy did and looking nervous and sad and beaten up while standing next to the others at an event when they looked perfect was an insult to the team. Plus, if he let on how beaten up he was, the group might say he wasn't able to handle things and try to boot him off the team. Ziggy may not have wanted to join but he was a member and proud to help people. Whether or not those people liked him or cared that he helped them.

Telling Dr. K that there was something wrong with the Series Green suit was like talking to a wall – a very insulting wall. She often claimed that any errors came from having a sub-par Operator, not due to any flaw in the mechanics. But he knew K hadn't even been looking, or if she had, she didn't want to worry him and explain that his suit was not going to last much longer, both admitting she had screwed up and that he might be doomed and had no choice in the matter. Ziggy only knew this because he'd actually taken a peak at his scans over her shoulder and knew they were way different from how they were supposed to look. Most wrote him off at stupid, but the young ex-con was actually smart enough to know when stuff was wrong with him.

He was halfway through getting the makeup prepared and on when the alarms started ringing, signaling an attack. Quickly, he pulled on his clothes and team leather jacket, only really able to grab a bit of the makeup to cover any marks on his face before he dashed downstairs to join the others. The fact that he could dress and get his face looking normal so far as a tribute to how well he was learning – before he'd joined the team, something like this took him a good several minutes. The marks on the rest of his body would have to wait, but Ziggy was covered up enough to not worry about that.

Dillon gave his friend a funny look when he came down and climbed into the passenger's seat of the fury. What he first noticed was that Ziggy was wearing makeup – the color was off in a few patches on his face – but his friend had been upstairs for a while before they'd been called out. Maybe he'd had a date that day? Despite how it caused a knot to form in the older Ranger's chest, Operator Series Black decided he might as well ask, since the breach was a pretty long drive away and the blotchy parts were not going to stop bugging him.

"Had plans tonight, or did you just not feel pretty enough, Princess?" the older man joked with a smirk, taking the lollipop Ziggy pulled out for him. They were getting way too used to this job, and it was showing. Being able to not panic and just chill on the way to a shield breach? That was not something that was normally habitual.

The younger man blinked, the dorky grin he'd had on when he came down faltering for a moment, "Wha?" It was apparently a very surprising question. What, did Ziggy think he wouldn't notice a bunch of off color patches?

"You're wearing makeup." The Black Ranger pointed out, eyebrow raised in confusion.

Surprise and fear were visible for a second in Ziggy's eyes before the youngest ranger leaned over to look at one of the mirrors in the car to see what his friend was talking about, "Ooooooh, that. No that's nothing, just trying out a new skin cream!" The lie was obvious, particularly from how quickly he tried to fix the blotchy patches where a bit too much was smeared on a little too fast. Well now Ziggy's complexion looked right but it was kind of annoying to Dillon that his friend wouldn't even give him a straight answer to a question like that. He didn't dwell on it much longer though – they were almost to the battle and Ziggy was a bit shy about serious romantic subjects. And the older man couldn't help but chuckle at the cute way his companion looked at the car mirrors to fix his appearance, almost preening but not quite.

When they finally arrived at the source of the shield breach, the whole team assembled, ready to fight Tenaya 7, a whole ton of grinders and the usual big, ugly Attackbot. But as he exited the car, Ziggy couldn't help but think this one was going to be different, a feeling he was pretty sure the rest of the team shared as he glanced over towards them. Gem and Gemma were looking ready to blow something up – a sure sign that they already didn't have a good feeling about this fight and they wanted it to go their way instead; Flynn looked torn between getting ready to attack and being ready to tackle Gem and Gemma to hold them back; Scott was tenser than usual and kept looking to the others; Summer was shaking a tad; And Dillon? He looked ready to murder that huge cobbled together mess that was this week's Attackbot.

The fight was a blur of metal and trouble and loud grunts from the team fighting. Ziggy's suit was acting up yet again and he could barely dodge attacks, choosing to stick to the background with the grinders since they tended to be a little easier on him than Tenaya or the Attackbots were. However, sometime during the confusion, he'd ended up de-morphed and on the ground at Tenaya 7's feet. She looked somewhere between curb-stomping him and blasting him when her face screwed up in confusion.

"Are you...wearing makeup?" she asked, looking at him for a good few moments in an attempt to figure it out.

This gave Ziggy the time to stand up and stagger a little away. "Yes I am, I wish people would stop asking." he grumbled, not bothering to fix it since his morph was due to phase back in soon.

Tenaya's lips curved into a smirk that would have brought a glint to her eyes had they not been concealed under her visor. "You should know, you look pretty just the way you are, Ranger Green." the smirk turned colder and more cruel in a moment and she took a few steps away, "But what you'll be next is a charred mark on the ground when Venjix's new Gatebot gets finished with you!"

Turning around, the newly remorphed Ziggy stared in horror as he saw the Gatebot readying an attack. The ranger tried to move his feet but to no avail – his suit was screwed – and had Dillon not dived forward and put up his invincibility shield, the younger male was sure he'd be dead. The team clustered around him quickly, none seeming to understand the real problem – why Ziggy hadn't moved. They'd all been too distracted to see him demorph behind some boxes and remorph again a bit later, and had merely thought he hadn't moved because he was surprised or too scared.

"Come on, Ziggy, no time to turn coward on us now!" Scott called, motioning for the group to combine weapons and blast the Attackbot. It took him a few moments to force his suit into action, but Ziggy managed to make things work in time for them all to fire at the bot. Sadly, it was firing back at them too by that point and the blasts met in mid-air. In another version of the very same world, a similar fight was taking place, and as the smoke of the attack cleared, the Gatebot was laying on the ground, broken, and a new group of Power Rangers stood before them.

The whole group reacted in shock, and Ziggy could vaguely distinguish different 'huh?'s from his friends at the appearance of the very similar team of Rangers – looking just like them, just with upgraded suits. However, with his fading consciousness, and from his position on the ground where the backlash had thrown the whole team, the male was only able to pick out one major thing – this team lacked a Series Green.

Tenaya 7 stared in shock at the new team of rangers. Okay that had NOT been in the plan! But knowing her boss, now was not the time to think of that as she dashed off to return to base. Venjix would be giving the order to Begin the Download soon and she didn't want to be underfoot during a megazord fight, particularly not if a new team of rangers had shown up. The only thing about this she could be thankful for was that it was not, in any way, her own fault – this was definitely the doing of Venjix and his 'new, improved, and soon to be tested technology' in the Gatebot. And unknown to Tenaya, as she scurried back to base, a dark shadow followed her, preparing to bring Venjix even more trouble than the other team of Rangers would.

Ziggy sat up, de-morphed fully, and noticing something very strange. There was a zord fight going on with the Gatebot...but his friends were all de-morphed on the ground near him, and this was definitely not the RPM Ultrazord...or any of their zords, really. The young man was pretty sure he'd remember if they had a large purple cat-like zord that combined with slightly more improved looking versions of the normal zords to make this new Ultrazord. However, he was a bit too tired from his suit troubles to stay conscious much longer and passed out once more to the whoops and cheers of his teammates, all watching the fight and none of them really noticing him, assuming he was right with them.

His second return to consciousness in a short while was done with the help of a very pretty young woman with long dark hair and a very pretty purple shirt. Ziggy blinked a bit, "Tenaya?" he asked, a bit confused out of his mind at the nice looking young woman who helped him.

She smiled somewhat, shaking her head, "Close. I'm Aya. Nice to meet you." she greeted and seemed to easily heft him off the ground and carry his weight, one of the weakened male's arms hanging over her shoulder and one of her arms around his waist. Ziggy was too out of it by this point to try and act macho or force a grin and tell her he'd be fine, or make some cocky comment about how he could so have handled that Attackbot if she and her team hadn't rescued it from the hurt it was going to receive. The young man didn't seriously believe those things, but it was the only way to keep himself distracted from how crappy he felt some days or being too nervous to speak to someone.

"Come on, we have to get back to the Garage. If we're in some alternate version of our world, then so is _he _and that won't be good for anyone here." the woman told Ziggy with haunted eyes, hurrying him towards the Fury, which Dillon and...well, Dillon, were arguing over. The green ranger's brain was just about to wrap around this concept when he once again blacked out, much to the annoyance of the young woman carrying him. This guy was either the most easily shocked person she had ever met, or he really was not fit to be on ranger duty at present. And neither boded well for this alternate version of the team.

Back at the Palace, Venjix was FURIOUS. A second team of Rangers, and one apparently WAY stronger than the current group? One was annoying enough! Needless to say, Tenaya was avoiding going in to report back. Now would probably be a dumb time for that, she thought, after observing a very blown up Crunch being swept up by Grinders. Very dumb.

"Going to stand around here all night?" came an eerily familiar voice from behind the female, a voice she couldn't quite place. Spinning around she pointed her blaster into the face of...who the hell was that? The person behind her definitely didn't look like most of Venjix's machines, thinner and with more light muscle than bulky techno-parts that tended to weigh down most of his Attackbots. His face was hidden by a visor similar to her own that seemed to have a side shield as well as one from the top, and his clothes were black, as opposed to the burgundy shade hers seemed to be.

She hissed a bit, pressing her blaster right under his chin, "Who are you?" the female growled at him, made a tad nervous by how unperturbed he was.

"Better question is who are YOU, little lady?" that smile of his was getting on her nerves quickly.

Tossing her hair, the Attackbot gave her full designation, "I am Tenaya, Generation 7, Venjix Human Infiltration Attackbot. I am your thoughts and minds. I am mankind's unconscious being. I am the final evolution of the-hey wait a moment! I asked you first! Out with it! Who are you and how dare you enter this place?" she snapped, actually annoyed that she'd gone back on the habit of stating her lengthy title. After the first two times of getting cut off during it, she had given up on the damn speech, but this intruder seemed interested in hearing it.

The newcomer seemed perfectly willing to listen to her speech and was almost disappointed when she cut off. However, that smirk returned and he stretched a bit, preparing his own title, "Lord Zygon, Generation 23. Venjix Human Infiltration blah blah blah yada yada same spiel different day you get my point." His hand waved a few times as he said this and it was pretty clear that at least his wasn't detachable – too many similarities and this would get even freakier.

Tenaya paled when he stated his generation number, "What? That can't be! We aren't even at generation 19 yet!" she snapped, horrified. This person was either a very good liar...or he had come from wherever those powered-up rangers did.

"You're very smart. Do you want a gold star for your troubles?" he cooed, leaning forward to pat Tenaya's head as if she were a child, a gesture she shook off rather forcefully, "Of course you're nowhere close to my generation just yet. That's why I'm taking over NOW, while I can." And with that the pompous ass stalked into the throne room to inform Venjix of this, leaving a very horrified and confused Tenaya 7 to stand there and watch him before deciding she'd rather not see how this went down and heading back to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

A small note here – the beginning of this chapter might be a tad choppy and if so I'm very sorry for that. The rangers are all very confused and it's a bit tough to write.

* * *

The team did eventually make it back to base in one piece, despite different versions of certain people wanting to drive their own vehicles. The ones who seemed to be getting along best were the alternate Summers, who were just trying to keep from freaking out and trying to work together as best as possible. The others were either butting heads or agreeing way too much for it to be a good thing.

From his position on the couch, Ziggy could watch them all and see both the differences between each team, but also the similarities, particularly in mannerisms and activities. Seated beside him was the girl he'd been rescued by, Aya, who apparently knew better than to try and get in the middle of this. As he'd discovered rather quickly, Aya was a tad nicer and more understanding than her self in this world, but she kept that snarky sarcastic side they all knew so well from Tenaya 7. Still, he found himself getting along with her, the pair trading a bowl of popcorn back and forth as they watched their teams.

The easiest to differentiate between were the alternate Gem and Gemma with their regular counterparts. Instead of Gem having short hair and Gemma having long, it was the reverse, and the two were dressed a good bit differently, with A!Gem in a T-shirt and Jeans, and Gemma wearing a sports dress. Aya confided in Ziggy quietly that they started dressing a bit differently a few months back after a fight Gem had with Flynn that no one quiet knew the details of, but the trio had all been a lot less conflicted after that. Still, both pairs of twins had that childlike optimism and finished each other's sentences, happily enjoying the visit with big grins that indicated they had very maniacal things planned.

The young male would have gone on figuring out differences between the teams with Aya, but soon after they started their serious analysis, an interruption showed up in the form of an irate Dr. K. She had obviously not been informed of the arrival and was very annoyed to see the second group present without so much as a 'hey Dr. K we have surprise guests!'. As it was, the little woman blew an air horn into the air before speaking.

"It's nice to see everyone, now if someone would PLEASE inform me why I WASN'T informed of this?" she grumbled, looking at both versions of Scott very sternly. Thankfully, she didn't have trouble picking out which was her Scott – he had the crazy hair, the alternate one apparently keeping his hair short like it had been when he was in the Eagle Squad. "I demand an explanation."

Aya winked at Ziggy a bit before standing up, "I can explain this, K. We sort of distracted them with arrival and their equipment was messed up by the temporal distortion. I tried to contact you on Ranger Green's communicator but it was offline." her smile was warm and she looked almost as if she was used to situations like this. Actually, the entire team looked like that, what with how the alternate Scott looked nervously to Aya before she'd start speaking.

K was having none of it. The young genius gave this new 'purple ranger' a stern look, "Did you try anyone else's communicators? Because I can assure you, the only errors were in Ranger Green's suit. But Series Green was malfunctioning before you even arrived. And the rest of my team should have tried to call in anyway."

"AHA! So NOW you admit there IS something wrong with my suit." Ziggy cheered, pointing at his boss accusingly. "I knew it!"

A muscle twitched by the young doctor's eye, as she grudgingly replied, "Yes, Ranger Green, I admit there might be some slight errors with your suit. Though I still say it's more of an issue with the Operator than the technology itself."

This resulted in a laugh from the alternate Scott, who slapped his counterpart on the back, grinning, "Yeah seriously, who let this kid be a Ranger anyway? He's got more purple on his arms alone than Aya's whole wardrobe." apparently, Ziggy's presence did seem a bit like a joke to the other team leader, especially evidenced by his lack of presence or their lack of any idea who the hell he was.

However, it was this Scott's words that made the young ranger – and everyone else in the room apparently – very aware that he no longer had his leather jacket on and hadn't gotten to apply any concealer to his arms, leaving the bruises very visible. Ziggy gulped quietly, noticing how all eyes turned to him and how their Dillon seemed almost ready to head over and demand answers about this.

He was saved, thankfully, by the arrival of someone who could apparently send a chill through the entire foreign team without so much as a sound. It was as if the room had suddenly gone very quiet and very cold for no reason. And then Ziggy heard it – the soft click of a pair of boots as they stalked through the building towards their present location. But those weren't Tenaya 7's heels, which tended to make a much louder noise, and there was no whistling. No whoever it was, was apparently someone much worse.

As they all slowly turned to look, a young man came into view. His hair was tied back and a huge pair of sunglasses obscured most of his features. A slim, lightly muscled body was covered with a tight black jumpsuit, and had he not given off such an air of power and confidence, one might start to suspect he looked odd. He smirked broadly, one hand on his hip as he looked around at the two teams.

"What, not going to introduce me, Rangers? And here I thought I was your number one priority." he pushed his lip out in an almost adorable pout, faking hurt before that smirk returned and he continued, "That's all right though, I'll introduce myself."

As if he were the only person in the room that mattered, the newcomer placed one foot on the arm of the couch and the second on the top, easily lifting himself up to walk across the back. Aya, who'd been standing near it, seemed to back away a bit, a mixture of disgust and worry on her features. The man crossed his arms once more before speaking, "To those of you who don't know me, I am Lord Zygon, and I am now ruler of this world and it's inhabitants. I will begin attacking Corinth tomorrow just because I feel like it and when I get bored of playing around and constantly humiliating two teams of Power Rangers instead of one, I'll go in and just disable the shield, conquering you all without much trouble. Any questions?"

Everyone stared at him in horror before Aya spoke up, "Does Venjix know what you're going around claiming now, Zygon?" she remarked coldly, earning a rather scary smile from their apparent 'ruler'.

"Do you mean this Venjix or that Venjix? Because the one I work for can't get here, and the one here just got his metallic ass handed to him." And it was as if his words had somehow managed to cut through whatever sense of fear and restraint was holding the two groups from falling into chaos there and then. But as it looked like several people were going to lunge for him, the man snapped his fingers, phasing out in a sleek teleport that felt oddly familiar to Ziggy, who had been unable to move himself from the close proximity he had been sitting to this Lord Zygon.

Immediately, the room exploded into questions. Scott demanding to know who the hell that was, A!Flynn beginning to pace and mutter things that his accent made it hard to make out, Dr. K rushing off to analyze how whoever that was had made it inside without alerting the sensors of a shield breach, both Dillons shouting at each other about what they were going to do on the matter, and Aya collapsing on the couch next to Ziggy and giving him a pained look.

"Popcorn?" the brunette young man offered with a look that said he just was not going to ask about that, leaning back to wait with her till things were calmed down. Ziggy had a lot to think about anyway – after all, not only had this new enemy essentially just implied he was going to attack for fun because he knew he could win whenever, but he had also felt so eerily familiar. Maybe it was because the others in the group hadn't made the connection yet, or because they just couldn't see the similarities behind the differences, but Ziggy already had a bad feeling he knew who this new Lord really was. And that didn't bode well for anyone.

Back at his new palace, said Lord was already putting his feet up and casually working on a small device. General Crunch – who had been repaired a decent bit before his return – was bouncing around and attempting to figure out just what he was working on. Tenaya was leaning against a nearby wall, glaring at him with almost as much venom as the large red light in the silver cylinder at the center of the room was.

"Oh don't look so pouty, you two, the empire will go back to normal after I've gotten what I want." the voice was pleasant and reassuring, but did nothing to actually ease either Venjix or his hybrid general's feelings. That was, until Tenaya 7 realized what he was saying.

"Wait...you're not staying?" she asked, shocked. What kind of idiocy was that? This guy had barged in, not only been able to take out a bunch of Venjix's main circuits very fast, but also easily handle all of his generals and a good deal of grinders. He'd then proceeded to turn the virus back on, tell him to shut up and listen, and start production on some Generation 18 Attackbots with the express intention of tormenting Corinth till he was bored enough to capture them. Why would someone who could and did do all of that, want to go back?

The woman's tone and question brought a laugh to Zygon's throat as the young man leaned back to look at her in amusement, still wearing that double visor of his to block out his eyes, "No, no I'm not. I have things to get back to work on at home, a Corinth to conquer for my Master Venjix, and even some Power Rangers to humiliate and confuse. This is just a vacation for me. I'll be going back soon as I get what I want." The airy tone and light waving of his hand as he spoke this made it seem as if to him, this really was just a little holiday from his dayjob and not a world conquering and empowering experience. That smugness pissed Tenaya off a lot.

Crunch, who seemed to amuse this new Lord the most, clapped his hands a bit, "Oh goody! And what do you want?"

General Shifter let out an exasperated groan before Zygon could answer the other general, "I don't care what he wants, so long as he stops using me for a chair soon. My circuits are starting to burn out." the golden Attackbot was on all fours and was being reclined on like a bench.

At that, Kilobyte grumbled loudly, "At least you aren't the footrest. Your boots had better not dirty my back too much...your lordship," the last note added as a sour afterthought.

"I'll do what I want, thank you very much, Kilobot, and I'll dent it if I please too." the new master laughed, turning back to Crunch to answer him, "And it's an alternate reality portal device. I'm making it from the scraps of that Gatebot."

Kilobyte growled, very annoyed at the mispronunciation of his name – particularly since he knew Zygon really was just trying to piss him off with that and he really shouldn't give the newcomer the benefit of what he wanted. But then again, he was also the one who got scrapped the quickest and was now being used as a footrest, so what little dignity had been installed in the General was quickly fading.

Morning dawned in Corinth sooner than the team would have liked. No one had gotten much rest, most too nervous about their impending doom to sleep. Still, it was a shock to Dillon when he came downstairs that morning to find his roommate already in the Ranger room and attempting to morph, some of K's scanners already turned on as the harried doctor tried to figure out what was wrong with his suit versus it's owner.

"Good morning Ranger Series Black." K greeted, just as Ziggy said, "Hey Dillon, sleep well?"

"Good morning to you too, Doc, and I told you before Zig," he started, walking over to clap his friend on the shoulder, "I don't sleep. But my counterpart claimed my car for the night so I had to chill in our room. I'm surprised you didn't come up at all." he commented, raising a brow.

"Series Green was in the lab all evening, I've been trying to work out the bug in his suit but so far, it still seems to be caused by him and not a flaw in the technology. Ranger Green is still physically incapable of handling the suit and it's beginning to show." she snapped, though honestly, K was beginning to worry that if she was right, the suit might be draining her friend fast enough that they might lose him during the next attack, particularly if it was going to be as bad as the other rangers said.

"Well, isse gonna be able ta figh' today?" it was Flynn, walking in and looking a little sour. The trio looked at him in confusion. Wasn't the Scotsman usually making breakfast and smoothies by this point?

The blue ranger rolled his eyes at the looks, "The othah me wan'ed to make things today. Summat about needing to make a smoothie for 'tha' prick' before he shows up." Flynn shrugged a bit as he said this, before looking back to K about his question.

"Ranger Green will be able to fight, I just don't know for how long." she assured him before crossing her arms, "And WHAT prick?"

Ziggy was the one able to answer this for her, "Lord Zygon." this got the other three in the room to look at him with even more confusion than before, causing Ziggy to sigh, "Aya told me last night. This Zygon guy always shows up at their Garage to steal a smoothie and some breakfast, so their Flynn gets up early to make something for him so the guy won't steal his."

The young genius sat down at her computers once more, looking ready to snap, "I STILL don't know how he gets in here without alerting the scanners. That Aya girl was trying to explain to me last night that it's the same reason I can't actually pick up on her and the other Dillon's upgrades but her explanation didn't make any sense. Venjix can't hack the bio-field well enough to mask himself or implants he puts in. She kept saying it was something to do with Zygon but then I had to deal with Ranger Green before I could ask her to elaborate."

"Then let me fill you in." both Scotts had just arrived, walking into the room in sync, their outfits matching almost exactly, save for the Ranger Series Red jacket the alternate Scott wore, which was something like a dark military uniform coat more than a leather jacket. It was him that had spoken and he seemed ready to explain that to her, "Our Dillon, Aya and Lord Zygon, all lack the Venjix Virus in their implants – we aren't entirely sure of the method used to deactivate it, but when they arrived in Corinth, it completely masked their implants from being detected. Lord Zygon also has this mask on his mechanics, and we believe it is why his-" before the explanation could be finished, there were sirens blaring. The attack had begun.

* * *

Sorry if this chapter's not as good as the last. Hopefully I'll do better next time. Love to you all!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

* * *

The Generation 18 Attackbot and the upgraded Grinders sent along with it were a pretty decent match for the main team, but not as much for the combined group of 14 RPM rangers. However, this was obviously not the main attraction, as could be gathered from the fact that Lord Zygon and Tenaya 7 had showned up to watch, using Kilobyte and Shifter as chairs, while Crunch and Venjix – in one of his old bodies – were standing. Tenaya seemed to be getting a smug satisfaction from this, and from the fact that Lord Zygon apparently favored her enough to share his chips with her, though his smoothie was off limits.

As the team ducked, weaved and tried to blast the grinders – which just kept coming, seemingly at random with the power of the unnamed Attackbot – Series Green and Purple stayed close to each other. Only they were aware of a few things that K had told them during the night. The young genius had warned Ziggy of her fears but explained she couldn't be sure if she was right or not till next time the suit was in serious use. Because of how damaging it could potentially be, she had had Aya agree to keep close to him, especially since her suits power would help him should Series Green start acting up again. So far so good, but the young man was starting to feel the familiar tingles in the energy surrounding him that said the suit would be going out again soon.

"Aya, K, watch out." he said quickly into the private com-channel that doctor had set up for them. Worrying the others with this would be dumb, particularly either Dillon since the two youngest rangers were close to them – so privacy was very important. He had no sooner gotten confirmation that they'd hurt him when his morph started to falter, skipping in and out. Series Purple was in action already, grabbing a nearby grinder with one hand and Ziggy with another, her suit glowing before he returned to full strength.

With a quick thumbs up, the woman went back to work, "That should hold for now." she told him, punching out a few more grinders that had come up after the one she grabbed fell. "Affirmative, Series Purple. I'm getting the data I need. At the next surge, repower him once more so he can teleport you two back here." K's voice was snapped quickly over the com and the pair nodded, helping to thin out the grinder ranks till the next time Ziggy's suit started to die.

Zygon, growing before of the grinders, waved his hand a little to stop the ranks from coming and signal the attackbot to begin blasting the group. He had mastered this commanding without speaking business pretty well, particularly in keeping the Generals and Venjix shut up. Especially since Venjix was highly pissed that the new bot wasn't doing as well as promised.

"You swore it would be able to take out the Power Rangers!" he snarled, stamping a foot when enough was getting to be enough and the bot looked close to down for the count.

Zygon snickered, "That I did. And it can. I'm just having some fun first." as he said this, the alternate Ranger Black had managed to escape the group and head towards them. A moment later a blast hit his feet, the Lord having quickly borrowed Tenaya's hand to shoot him, much to her surprise as he didn't even bother to detach it first. "Back to business, Ranger Black, I don't want to talk to you today." he called, as if this were a normal occurrence.

"You really do think you control everything don't you?" Tenaya grumbled as she shook her hand a bit and went back to eating some of the snacks her new 'master' had provided.

Zygon tossed his head a bit, smirking in that way that made her want to punch him, "I don't think it – I know I control everything. You'd be amazed just how much." he told her, snapping his fingers to begin the download on the fallen bot.

Tenaya stared at the other android for a moment before shaking her head and returning her eyes to the fight, "Are you going to send me in ever?" the female was itching to fight at some point, despite how fun it was to watch the Rangers get creamed.

"Not today I'm not. But I do have plans for you." he assured Tenaya, leaning back lightly to watch the newly huge bot blasting at the Rangers.

Ziggy and Aya were about to summon their zords along with everyone else when that tingling returned. Quickly, he grabbed her shoulder and gasped, "Aya? Quick change of plans. You help them with the Zords, I'm going back before I run out." and immediately he was gone in a flash of green energy, porting himself inside while he could, rather than waiting for her to find a source to siphon energy for him to do it.

K was surprised and concerned, watching the fight and seeing the Series Green power turn off – but the ranger himself was gone and Series Purple was still there, forming a megazord. She was about to call into the com to find him when the doors to the Ranger Room fell open and a demorphed Ziggy crashed on the floor inside.

"Sorry about that, Doc, I meant to port right here but I lost my morph halfway through and landed outside the Garage." he mumbled, walking over to take a seat on her examining table, "Can I take a nap now?"

Saved from a near heart-attack by his appearance, K simply nodded and returned her attention to the battle, keeping her eyes on the Zords fighting. She'd barely managed to give them enough power to mostly form the Ultrazord, and fielding questions of where the hell Ziggy was was getting to be a tough job. Especially when K couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about this.

Venjix was yelling at Zygon again and it was actually starting to get on his nerves by now. The Virus just didn't understand the finer points of this sort of business and all that talk of Zygon being a failure was getting really annoying. Instantly, he grabbed Tenaya's hand a second time to fire a blast directly into Venjix's chest. "Be silent or I will disable you, Venjix." he barked darkly, letting her hand go once more, "I know what I am doing." and with two more snaps he showed it, as a pair of Attackbots to match the first appeared, giant sized, next to the first. Now things were really gonna get heated.

The three bots together were enough to leave the already slightly crippled teams in rubble. But just as it looked like the three machines were going to completely wipe the floor with them, Zygon stood, snapping his fingers once more and calling off the trio.

"That's all for today Rangers. You've had a taste of your doom. I'll be back tomorrow." he called calmly, waving a hand and letting the monster shrink once more so they could leave. He then turned to Venjix before the virus could protest, "You'll be walking home." he informed it and promptly ported the other Generals and himself back to the palace, leaving a very disgruntled and angry virus to contemplate ways to get this horrible bastard out of his empire.

Returning to the Garage, everyone was miserable and confused. As they entered the Ranger Room, everyone was talking and wondering just why their enemy had called off his attack – that was apparently very weird, even for someone as nuts as Zygon. They were all silenced, however, when they saw what lay before them. Dr. K was seated at her computer, the monitor she used to talk to the rangers on now features the face of a slightly older K with longer hair and a worried expression. And on the examining table was Ziggy Grover, with a large patch on his left arm bruised and looking burnt from the sparking morpher on his wrist.

The regular world Dillon rushed over to him, looking nervous, "Zig, you okay?" he asked, obviously a tad more concerned about his friend than about there being two Dr. Ks – been there seen that really. When he got a nod of response, the man let out a breath he didn't know he was holding – the younger male really knew how to worry him some days.

While he was busy with that, the rest of the rangers were happily greeting their Dr. K – Aya apparently calling her Kitty and very happy to see her. This K just seemed to take it in stride before speaking, "Yes yes, I'm glad to see you all too, Rangers. But we have a bigger problem – Venjix is planning a full scale attack on Corinth without you all here, and he's planning to get his rogue general back for it. You will all have to return soon." she explained quickly.

"But wha' abou' THIS version of Corinth?" Flynn shouted, looking frazzled, "We barely survived those Attackbots and tha' was with BOTH teams!"

The regular K sighed, "Yes, we know this. However, as my other self stated, Venjix plans on retrieving Lord Zygon as well, and I am told Zygon's too cocky about his property to leave those Attackbots here." the young genius said with a sigh, "And in their own world, the other team are to be at full strength again."

The alternate Summer smiled at that, "We were wondering why everything was scaled down when we fought here." the woman stated, trying to spark some smiles with her team, "We'll go home and be able to take out those Attackbots."

"I'm afraid things won't be that simple." the alternate K interrupted, "Venjix does intend to let that world's version of the virus keep the schematics for a few later generations of the technology. To combat that, myself and the other Dr. K will be working together to develop better tech for this world. However, you must all return soon."

"We will also be needing to develop a new morpher from the designs for the Series Purple suit, since Series Green is presently down until further notice." it seemed these two were just full of bittersweet news weren't they? Ziggy looked sheepishly at his teammates, who all at least managed to look somewhat sad about this.

The alternate Scott, however, seemed to see a bright side to that, "Well, that gives you the chance to pick someone more qualified, huh?" he offered. That comment didn't get taken as well as planned when the regular Scott turned around and pushed him back.

"Shut up. Whether or not you think he's qualified, Ziggy's a member of our team and has served us well." he snapped, looking about ready to punch the other version of himself, and Dillon seemed pretty ready to back him up. Things were pretty close to coming to blows when both Summers moved in to hold back their respective boyfriends.

The curly haired young man smiled sadly at seeing his team leader defend him, even if what the other Scott had said was true. Standing up, he walked over to put a hand on Dillon's arm, knowing Summer wasn't going to be able to keep him from fighting, even if Scott didn't. "Just relax, everyone. Everybody's tense and this is really worrisome. We don't need to fight with each other as well." it took a few moments for that to sink in before the young man grinned.

"You're right," the alternate Scott agreed, backing off and shaking his head, "You guys should just relax while you've got the chance. We've got to get ready to go back with Dr. K."

Ziggy grinned, "And on that note, I'm going for a walk." he said and ducked out of the building before anyone could question him. There was no way he was letting his team see how upset he actually was over the near implosion of his morpher. That would just add insult to injury with how bad things were.

The young man's walk was cut short abruptly as he rounded a corner and came to a deserted street. Ziggy didn't even have time to try the button on his com-link before being snatched. Whoever it was was quick and smart about the action, whisking him away.

Back at Venjix's palace, the very sandy and angry leader arrived to find Kilobyte waiting – holding a screen with a transmission from the virus's alternate and more powerful self. It had some schematics for this Venjix that would make conquering much easier once this extra team of Power Rangers and this Lord Zygon fellow were gone.

In K's lab, after the rest of the team had been sent through the portal, the young doctor with Aya beside her and the other K on screen. They were working on the new Series Purple morpher for this world and that meant she couldn't go just yet. Not that the main team needed to know that.

"So you're sure you can handle this, Series Purple?" the K beside her said, leaning over the copy of her morpher and synthesizing a proper copy of it. It was a good thing her alternate self had been working on a new morpher of sorts anyway, and could send the parts to her.

Aya smirked, having been in quiet conversation with the projected doctor, "Yes, I am. You guys need an Operator and I need to fetch one." she said calmly, smirking at the look Kitty gave her from the monitor.

"I still wish your Ziggy could bond with the new Series to keep Aya from having to go in there." the woman stated with a pout, not at all liking what they had planned.

Dr. K rolled her eyes as she worked – it was so uncomfortable standing right by a projection of a different version of herself and that self's girlfriend, "You know as well as I do that that's not possible. The two powers wouldn't agree at all and it'd ruin the new morpher. Ranger Purple thinks she has a way to get us a new ranger and I am going to try and trust her with that." As she said this, the girl glanced over at the ranger in question before her eyes snapped back and a blush colored her cheeks.

Aya was pulling on a familiar looking tight burgundy suit and letting her hair out. "Yes, trust me, it'll work." she assured the two, smirking a bit at the blush on both Ks' faces. Some things were just too priceless. But back to business, she thought, carefully removing her morpher from her wrist to complete the look. That couldn't go with her this time, but for now she was still safe in this world due to a little secret she kept from even her elder brother.

* * *

This chapter's a bit short, sorry. XP


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

* * *

Aya left to begin her mission in the middle of the night. Getting to Venjix's palace wasn't too hard for her, but getting in and lying low till her counterpart was gone was much harder. Grinders couldn't tell the difference between Tenaya 7 and Aya the Purple Ranger when they were dressed exactly the same, and that made it easy to keep out of trouble when Zygon was distracting Venjix and those damn generals with his asshattery. She couldn't make her move till the morning however.

The next day, Tenaya was sent out to fight the Power Rangers and get one of Zygon's Attackbots into the city. His Lordship had things to finish before he could take his leave – such as that portal machine – so he merely wanted to distract and terrify the Rangers for some time. Unbeknownst to Venjix, who was presently very smug over getting rid of the pesky Lord Zygon at last, the android had already long finished his machine and had other plans.

After getting out of the throne room, suitably sure the other Generals were not going to bother him (especially not Kilobyte who couldn't be happier to be away from the other), he went to meet Aya and help her go through some of Venjix's files.

"You owe me big, Power Ranger." he hissed, finding what she had come for and giving it to the young woman. "Do you know how many strings I'm going to have to pull for Venjix to not suspect, let alone your brother?"

The woman smiled and pat her friend's arm, "Yes. And I'm sure that brother will be unable to stay mad when you take off your visor for him." she joked, too used to Zygon's acts to believe he was actually annoyed.

He turned to her after a moment, visor obscuring the soft look she knew was in the lord's eyes, "You're going to have to survive against her unmorphed for a bit, you know that right?" he pointed out, "AND keep Venjix from finding out before I can get you out of here."

Aya rolled her eyes, tucking the two discs she'd been handed into her jumpsuit, "Yes, but I trust you to protect me." she assured him with a small laugh before going back to her hiding spot to wait for the real Tenaya to return.

On her way back from this morning's battle, a certain Human Infiltration Attackbot was looking furious. That blasted bot Zygon had sent with her had gone haywire during the fight after nearly crushing the rangers, and she'd had to retreat lest it blast her before growing. Somehow, she knew this was going to end up badly. The female hadn't been told of her new "boss"'s leaving, and that left her under his ruling, which was very biased, though usually not against her. This time though, there would be trouble.

When she reached the base, however, Tenaya ended up with a worse problem. Stalking out in front of it was...well, HER. Had Zygon not mentioned she had a counterpart where he came from? And if so, why had he not known who she was when he arrived? Glaring at the other woman, Tenaya summoned her blaster.

Aya grinned, pulling out a blaster of her own. "Glad to see you're back. I've been waiting a while. We need to talk." she circled her other self a few times, a small smile on the woman's features.

The attackbot didn't take this well, shooting at her companion wildly. "How DARE you come here, looking like me!" she screamed, becoming irrationally angry at this point. Had she not just had to deal with that faulty Attackbot and Lord Zygon's smugness, this meeting might have been taken better but the stage was set for this to be a brawl.

A few flips later and the other ranger was out of the way, blasting at Tenaya's hand in the hopes of damaging the weapon there. If she could do that, things might just get a little easier. "I'm you, so to speak. Well, the human you from another world anyway." Aya laughed a bit, dodging more frenzied attacks as her other half started to get enraged at the implication she was human.

"What? Surprised?" the girl continued, noting how much easier it was to avoid shots like this – her other self had obviously not learned to control her temper yet, "You're a human, Tenaya 7, and where I come from, you're a Power Ranger too."

Tenaya could barely see with how angry she was, furiously trying to hit this intruder with whatever means possible. "You're lying! I'm no human and I'd NEVER join those stupid rangers!"

Aya stopped, this time managing to get a hit in on the blaster and disable her opponent's robotic hand. "I'm not, you are, you would and you DID." she told her counterpart with a smirk. "You're Ranger Black's little lost sister and where I come from, you escaped with him to join the team in Corinth."

With her robotic hand damaged and her opponent barely breaking a sweat, Tenaya knew she was beat. Not that she'd let that happen without more arguing. "You're full of it and I'll kill you for saying such things!" she snarled.

"Too late." Aya laughed, holding up the two disks she'd had hidden. "I stole the disks with your and Dillon's files on them – I'm taking these back to Corinth and when he gets this back, you'll have to deal with him trying to convince you to leave too." she told the other woman before stepping back and spreading her arms, teleporting away just as Tenaya charged, leaving her counterpart fast first in the sand. What the Attackbot didn't see was Zygon inside pointing to use his power and send her away. Honestly, sometimes people just made things so awkward for him. But now was the time to start his part of the whole charade.

His Lordship stormed out, looking furious. He yanked Tenaya 7 up by her arm, giving a glare that even through his visor was terrifying. Anger seemed to radiate off of him and this was definitely the chewing out she had been expecting. "I am VERY displeased with you, Tenaya 7. Not only do you fail Venjix frequently but you have failed ME as well, and I am not so forgiving. First you messed up the new bot's attack on Corinth and NOW you have not only let a Power Ranger get into our facilities and steal something of value, but you also let her escape unharmed!"

The woman tried to struggle against his hold but it was firm and starting to really hurt. And worst of all, she was pretty sure the pointed nails on his one glove were digging into her machinery, which she was almost right about. He had dug them into her, but it wasn't machinery she'd see when he removed them.

"Worst of all, you dared be HUMAN." and with that, he pulled his nails from her arm, leaving blood to leak down it as she stared in horror. It was as if a switch had been flipped inside of her brain, leaving the girl flooded with a ton of memories and feelings of fear. This couldn't be right, it just couldn't! Zygon was still talking and it wasn't till the end, when he pulled out a syringe, that she suddenly tuned back in on him.

"You're going to have to take the punishment, Tenaya 7. One WORSE than death. With this serum, you'll lose everything, and be left as helpless as the other cattle waiting behind their precious shield for myself and Master Venjix to destroy them once and for all." his words were filled with such a mixture of anger and sadistic glee that it chilled the girl to the very bones she hadn't known she possessed.

Her eyes narrowed at him, watching him prepare to stick her with whatever the stuff he was holding was, "And just WHAT do you think that's going to do to me? I'll still have my upgrades, I'll still be able to destroy those humans!" but there was very little confidence in that scream, particularly as she felt the needle poke into her flesh.

Zygon's smirk returned, darker than before, "I'm going to cut you off from Master Venjix's power and send you half dead to the mercy of the very people you despise so you can no longer mooch off of this virus and barely survive due to your upgrades. You will no longer be a liability to our side. You, Tenaya 7, no longer deserve this power" his answer was almost purred as he injected the serum that began to purge her system of the virus, and as it did, knocked Tenaya 7 out.

Zygon's smirk fell and a sad look overtook his features as he reached out a hand to touch her cheek and teleport her to where he'd sent Aya. "You don't deserve this wretched life." and with that, she was gone and he had to go inside and deal with explanations. Luckily, that'd always been one of his best skills. That and being a cocky jackass, but that wasn't so much a skill as a natural talent augmented by his mechanics.

When Tenaya woke up, she was held down on one of the tables in the Rangers' headquarters as Dr. K scanned her. Her head hurt a lot – actually scratch that, almost all of her hurt. And the young genius scanning her with that blank look as if she weren't sure this was actually happening wasn't helping at all.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? You remember what happened last time you had an Attackbot in here." there was Ranger Black's voice from nearby – hadn't that Aya woman said he was her brother? Tenaya's head spun a bit as she tried not to faint from how empty she felt at the lack of Venjix power flooding through her. It was sort of like going through withdrawl for a drug addict, only a bit worse as her mechanics seemed to desperately need that power right about now.

K turned away from her patient to glare at the young man for a second, "Yes, I am. Or as sure as I'm going to be. Now please go away. This is a delicate procedure and I need you to leave me alone with her or this could end tragically." the doctor was awfully snappy for someone who was practically operating on one of their long time enemies. Then again, maybe that's why she was so snappy – she didn't want to do this. But the ex-villainess's head hurt too much to question it.

The sound of doors opening and closing could be heard before K let out a sigh of relief and looked down to the barely waking patient. "How are you feeling, Tenaya?" she asked, trying not to sound stiff or worried. Yes, there was definitely something up – but without the virus in the back of her head saying she should be killing this woman, and with all the pain she was going through right now, it was very hard to figure out what.

"Mrmph. Did I get run over by a stray Attackbot?" Tenaya grumbled out blearily after a few moments. K rolled her eyes and turned down the overhead light, lessening the reason the other woman was squinting. Funny, she hadn't even realized how bright it was or that she was squinting at all till K had done that. "You weren't run over by an Attackbot – the Venjix virus was neutralized in your system. It will take a good deal of time for your body to recover from that unless..." K trailed off and left Tenaya to deal with the annoying memory of being decommissioned so to speak.

The ex-Attackbot closed her eyes, trying to catch onto they way the younger female had ended her statement, "Unless what?" she mumbled after a moment. There had to be a catch here.

Dr. K glanced over again before answering, "You'd have to join with the new Series Purple morpher." yep, there was that catch. It brought a hollow laugh from her patient's throat.

"As I remember, didn't I initially WANT to steal one of your morphers and it's power? What makes you think I wouldn't just take it and return to Venjix's side?" Actually, she was pretty sure that getting an answer to that question would be really nice about now. Because Tenaya was having trouble with figuring out just why she should go.

The dark haired genius sighed, pulling out a small shot of painkillers for her patient, "Because you have no reason to return. There's nothing for you there – Venjix doesn't appreciate you very much, the other Generals don't appreciate you, and you are now going to be treated as even more inferior as both they and you will be aware that you're human and no longer have the virus."

It was hard for Tenaya to force herself not to bark back that she wasn't human, particularly watching as K injected the painkillers in her arm and was reminded of her earlier revelation by the small spot of blood that appeared when the needle was removed. That memory led her back to the revelation of Series Black – Dillon – being her brother and that her file was on a disc now stolen by the other Series Purple.

"Where did she take those discs she stole?" the question was asked hazily, as Tenaya weighed her options. If she asked to find out about her human self, about her old life, she knew what'd happen. The memories would flow back and she'd never be able to back out. She'd never be able to go back to the Palace or the other side, not without feeling guilty or out of place. It had already not been a home for her but could this really ever become one? Could the team ever trust her?

K reached out, holding up the two small discs in question, "She brought them back here before retrieving her morpher and going home. I now have an exact copy of the Series Purple powers and you can bond with them and regain your memories, but you know what the cost is."

Tenaya winced as her body was shocked with pain, her automatic attempt to reach for the disc stopped by soreness and aches she was suffering. "What happens otherwise?"

"Depending on how easily you take it, your body could heal and in time you'll go back to your life, most likely with a lot of your upgrades ceasing to work, including your eyes, or you could cause them all to fail and die."

The woman soured, "Gee, just so many options you give me." she commented, "And I notice getting the virus re-injected into me by my master isn't an option?"

K shook her head, "Negative, the serum used to kill it in you has created an immunity. You are forever cut off from his power."

It was with a defeated sigh that Tenaya lay back and held out her arms. "Fine, dammit. I'll do it. Let's just get this over with quickly – it has been a VERY long day and I would like to sleep without all of my body aching." And with that she was given the new morpher and bonded, before the pain finally ebbed away, leaving the newly demorphed Tenaya 7 very tired and aching.

Outside, Dillon was pacing. Things were just going to hell in a handbasket – there was an Attackbot in the Ranger Room, one of their team no longer had useable powers, Venjix had an upgrade from his alternate self, and to top things off, Ziggy hadn't come home from his walk. He was hopeful that the younger male would come home soon, just out late partying, but when he hadn't turned up all day, most of the team had gone out looking for him. Dillon himself had been left on duty since he was in such an agitated state, and so K would have some sort of guard in case of emergency. And so far, no one had reported in. Where was Ziggy? And what was K planning to do once she'd helped Tenaya 7? Yes, to Dillon, things were just going to hell and fast.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

**Second Warning!:** Slight gore this chapter. Not much because that's gross, but there's some implied stuff that's pretty eh. Shouldn't be too bad but telling you now. I will mark off the section where things get bad – if you're squeamish, you can skip it. It does explain a few plotpoints but they'll be reexplained later. Zygon is being a creepy mofo in that part.

* * *

With his decommissioning of Tenaya 7, Lord Zygon had put the last of the dirt on his grave. He returned to the throne room to find and upgraded Kilobyte and the alt-verse Kilobyte ready to fight him, his portal machine in hand. "You've been very bad, Zygon. The Master's so displeased with you, he won't even be letting you stay till you get what you want and decide to come home." the alternate Kilobyte explained with a sick smile that was mirrored in his counterpart's face.

"Really now. What a fascinating theory. And you lot plan on stopping me, is that right?" he asked with that same smirk that showed no fear at anyone. He could already hear the pair of Shifters clunking up behind him. Honestly, did they think this would work?

Kilobyte glared darkly, "Oh you'll be going back all right. Or Master Venjix will kill your little human pets." he said, "He's given orders for them to bring you back by any means necessary, but he already has a team following your pets and readying to capture them."

Zygon smirked, "Now, now, would you really do that to an old friend like me, Kilo-BOT?" he asked and in the next moment had blasted all four adversaries with blasters that tended to be concealed in his hands.

Looking down at the Kilobyte from his time, he smirked, "Keep the portal device to get you and Useless over there home," he jerked a thumb at Shifter as he spoke, "I'll go ahead and remind Master Venjix why he doesn't threaten me." and with that, he turned on a hidden portal device and vanished, "Toodles."

Where he arrived wasn't Venjix's main chambers. It was a private headquarters of his own that the Virus knew well enough to stay out of – not that he could get in to begin with. Heading over to one of the computers in the building, he punched in the code to call his master. Soon enough, Venjix's tower and red light were visible on his screen, restrained to just watch Zygon in the darkness of his private home.

"So you dare return without Kilobyte and Shifter, Zygon?" the virus's voice was strong and cold, but the lord knew how to make it quake with the fear only he could bring.

He smiled quietly, his visor practically glowing in the darkness of the room with the reflections of the screen, "I told them I wanted to come home early. But don't worry, I left them a ride home. They'll just have a few more blaster marks in them when they do get there."

The red eye glowed for a moment before the man was allowed to continue, knowing he was winning this non-argument, "Now you listen here, _Master_ Venjix. You know the rules about going back on our deal. Call whatever teams you sent off, and I might just leave your systems in tact and forget about this little incident. And if I find you harmed even one hair on either of them, you'lll be discovering just how your counterpart felt losing control of his empire to me." the words were said with that soft smile, but the cold undertone to them was obvious, he wasn't playing around and the virus knew it.

The red light before him dimmed, "Understood. I accept your terms yet again, Zygon – for now. You know I have plans to fight the Power Rangers soon. I want you to return from whatever projects you are tinkering with before morning so you can lead the charge." the virus sounded as resentful as it possibly could on those words and his lordship smiled again, waving before shutting off the channel.

Well, now that that was handled, he had some work to get back to. The dark haired hybrid headed out of the room and into a larger one, eventually turning on a bright white light overtop of the operating table. Strapped to this table and barely conscious, was Ziggy Grover. Zygon smirked, pulling on a set of white surgical gloves over his own black ones.

"You do that A LOT." came the grumbly words from the imprisoned ex-ranger. Over the past day and a half, Ziggy'd gotten a bit used to being strapped down here and treated to a firsthand show of his lordship's utter weirdness. At this point, even the gloves weren't surprising.

The other man looked over, having been preparing his tools for the operation he was planning on returning to. "Do what?" Zygon asked pleasantly, preparing the knockout gas for Ziggy.

The younger male glared, "Smirk! You look like a cat that just swallowed a whole family of canaries!" he shot back, "And don't tell me you are STILL gonna try and operate on me – I told you before, it's a DUMB Ide...a..." Ziggy trailed off at that note, the mask put over his face already knocking the poor young man out.

"Of course. It's the only way I can smile." Zygon commented, preparing to work, "And you, sadly, won't be going home for a very long time, young Ziggy. No matter what anyone thinks."

Back in his proper world, Dillon was getting more than upset. Not only had the whole team come back with nothing, but there were no traces of Ziggy still even being in the city. His morpher's signature didn't work anymore, and for all intents and purposes there was no evidence of anyone leaving the shield besides Aya – and Tenaya could testify that Venjix didn't have Ziggy captured before she had been decommissioned. So whatever had happened was definitely foul play. His best friend would NEVER leave him without saying goodbye.

Things were just so weird too – after she'd recovered enough for visitors, Dr. K had introduced Tenaya to the team as their new Series Purple Ranger. She had also introduced her as Dillon's sister, which had floored the young man till the young woman revealed a key she had kept without really understanding its value to her. When it'd fit with his own and played the Farmer In the Dell on his pocketwatch, things were pretty concrete. The files on them weren't necessary to prove much beyond that, though they did help. Somehow, it was very disconcerting to learn all of this and not have Ziggy nearby as support. Somehow, he needed the younger man's warm smile and friendly demeanor to make this okay – to calm his nerves and just make this reconcile itself in his mind faster. When he'd wandered out to be alone after the revelation, Dillon was almost positive he'd heard Tenaya jokingly explain to K that he was missing his boyfriend.

In his car, the man was able to sit and try to just think about this whole mess without people trying to bother him. Well, think wasn't quite the right word – his friends would describe it as brooding, and Ziggy would describe it as moping. Where the difference lay, Dillon didn't exactly want to be sure, but right about now he was glad the rest of the team was distracted or he'd have one of them trying to talk to him and cheer him up. For the most part, Ziggy at least knew when not to do that, and would offer his cheer by joining him in the passenger's seat, sitting quietly and just sort of being there. It was unwelcome from most everyone else, but from his best friend, not as much.

The way Tenaya – his SISTER – had described his relationship with Ziggy was sort of odd. Had that never come up at a Q&A session with some local students, Dillon wouldn't have even known his friend swung that way. Hell, then it had just been something the man threw to the back of his mind due to the fact that it tended to make him feel weird. That fact tended to only push itself to the forefront of his mind at weird points – like when he realized the younger male was wearing makeup and wondered if he had a date, or when he offhandedly thought something the other ranger did was 'cute'. Both were types of things that had been happening with increasing frequency before the rift had caused the meetup between the two teams. Dillon's protectiveness of the younger man had also been increasing a lot recently, especially in the face of how bruised Ziggy'd been and how the other team didn't seem as keen on him.

Could it be like that though? The man wasn't really sure he wanted to think about his best friend as anything more than a really close friend or a little brother. He had enough issues right now other than his sexuality and Ziggy being missing and Tenaya's revelations were NOT being helped by thinking about whether or not he might want to screw his best friend, despite how appealing that might sound as a way to clear tension.

Without thinking about it, Dillon had turned on the car and drove off, following his best friend's usually walk route in his car. Occasionally, after Ziggy had had a bad day and needed to be alone, the younger man would take this route and just walk for a while and Dillon would occasionally (okay always) follow him a ways behind and pick the other up when he'd finished being bummed. Ziggy'd usually smile at him when he got in and they'd joke around for a while and that'd be the end of it. Hell, the only reason Dillon HADN'T followed this time was the new K had things to talk about with the team members still able to morph. He had wanted to just blow it off and have someone else tell him later, but K had insisted, and now Dillon was highly regretting listening to her.

The Fury slowed to a stop as Dillon heard a sound that seemed to come from a nearby alleyway. He parked and closed up, dashing after the source of the noise. What he saw was a black circular portal floating in mid-air. Through it, he could see very little other than darkness and what looked like Lord Zygon leaning over a table. However, when he heard the sound again, Dillon realized what it was – Ziggy's voice was screaming from some form of torture the lord was inflicting on him. Rage and fear swept through the ranger's body as he dashed through the portal, not even bothering to consider it might be a trap.

-SQUEAMISH PART AHEAD-

What he found himself in was an almost completely black room, the only light coming from the huge overhead lamp that made the room feel even more sinister. Before him, in full costume, was Lord Zygon, who apparently thought he needed to wear a surgeons mask with his visor and white surgical gloves over his usual black ones. Still, Dillon could feel the man smirking at him as he cut into Ziggy, who had apparently finally passed out.

"Good to see you, Ranger Black. Have you been enjoying yourself?"he asked, that same sickly pleasant tone as ever, acting as if he wasn't cutting open and wiring up one of Dillon's best friends before him. Had he a weaker stomach and not had similar done to him, he might have thrown up at watching this.

Instead, the man glared, "You are a sick fucker, Zygon. Why are you doing this?"

He received a strange glance from the blank faced lord – or what would have been a strange glance could Dillon see his eyes, but he tilted his head to make it seem that way – before he got a response, "You do realize you just answered your own question, right?" when the ranger didn't confirm or deny it, he continued, "I am doing this for many reasons, Ranger Black. My master wishes to control a Power Ranger and your friend is the weakest link and the easiest to get. His power should start functioning much better after his upgrades."

At this point, the man looked ready to snap and his fists began to clench, watching this freak talk so nonchalantly while cutting open his best friend setting him off. However, before he could react, Zygon calmly spoke again, "Ah ah ah, Ranger Black. You don't want me to accidentally slip and sever something vital now do you?" he said, the scalpel in his hand hovering dangerously close to the skin above one of Ziggy's arteries.

Dillon eased off, not wanting anything to happen to the younger man, though not happy about it just the same, "And just why did you want me here? Your own sick pleasure?"

Zygon laughed, "No, if I wanted an audience, I could have brought you whole team. No I needed you specifically, Ranger Black, particularly because of your enhancements. You see, your little buddy is not taking too well to his upgrades – seems a habit of his, not taking too well to things. The life of crime, being the Green Ranger, and now his upgrades. They just don't agree with him, particularly because the Venjix virus doesn't agree with his bond to the Series Green powers."

It was sad, but Dillon was pretty sure he was beginning to get an inkling of what the the android wanted. It wasn't something he understood well, but he was the only one on the team with Venjix parts that hadn't had a dose of the serum and could therefore help Ziggy in some way. "What is it you want?"

His lordship didn't seem to want to be forthcoming about an answer, instead going onto a different tangent, "Are you aware that with the proper portal device, I can open not only a gate to your world but a gate to whatever time there I want? Meaning I can go in and stop any of you from being born." he commented, sewing up the part of Ziggy that he'd been working on and causing Dillon to have to look away for a moment.

"Terrifying. Now will you get back to what you want with me?" he growled, getting tired of these games.

Zygon sighed, "You're no fun." he commented before waving a bit, "What I want is for you to participate in a little known procedure I can conduct that will bond you and your friend together through your upgrades. It will bond him to your world so he doesn't fade out of existence from this one and it'll keep the virus from killing him."

Dillons' eyes widened and he stared between his friend, lying on the table unconscious, and the sicko operating on him. Between that and what Zygon had been talking about with time portals, he half wondered how long Ziggy'd been here, especially since the man couldn't see any seriously unhealed scars on his friend's body. After a few moments, he made his decision, "Fine, I'll go through with it. But you have to let me say goodbye to him after."

-SQUEAMISH PART OVER-

It didn't take Lord Zygon long to set up the bonding process between the captured Ziggy and Dillon. As he'd explained it, this was somewhere between networking two computers and making a refrigerator-freezer, not that either comparison was pleasant. The plan, according to Zygon, was that he'd bond them so Ziggy wouldn't fade out after being in this world too long and wouldn't die from his upgrades and Dillon would just go home after and be stuck living there, knowing his friend was alive but a slave to the machines that had robbed he and everyone he cared for of their lives. Needless to say, Dillon didn't plan on going along with this completely.

The bonding process was somewhere between Dillon being knocked out to have his machinery upgraded surgically and his mind somehow being networked with his friend's. Had he not been living in a world where things could essentially be cloned by pointing a robot mirror at them or memories could be removed by a giant TV dish monster, he might be questioning the logical possibilities presented by this whole business. At present, however, he was just glad that Zygon did have proper training to do this, otherwise they'd be screwed.

At the end of it all, he was to be given five minutes to speak to Ziggy while he was conscious and before the virus took the younger man over. It was meant to say goodbye but the black ranger had other ideas. He just didn't inform Ziggy of this when the younger man was woken up and allowed to know of his presence.

Upon seeing Dillon there and Zygon gone, the young man immediately grabbed his friend's hand. "Dillon, you have to get out of here NOW. That Zygon guy has some sort of weird plan to bond us and use it to control you. He's trying to trap you here and make you slave to this world's Venjix since the you here is immune to the virus." his words were hurried and his eyes wide with terror.

"Very good, trying to warn your buddy. Sadly, I'm already done bonding you two and I'm about to send you home little Ranger. You can't morph anymore and you're not a threat, and so long as I have this, the rest of your team can't come after me." Zygon had stalked back inside, holding the portal device, set to their time so it would seem Ziggy was only gone a day or two.

"Think again." and immediately Dillon kicked the device out of Zygon's hands, throwing the lord's surgical supply table at him as Ziggy just barely caught the device and turned it on, his friend pulling him through so they could escape. When the pair arrived on the other side, the younger man half collapsed, dropping the portal device. Dillon stomped it, grabbing his friend before he fell.

Ziggy leaned into Dillon's arms, feeling weak and like he hadn't walked in months. Truthfully, he had walked recently, but it was part of his physical therapy after the upgrades Zygon gave him so he'd be a compatible match with Dillon for the bonding. Still, that hadn't been real walking and he hadn't been standing on the pavement in Corinth city barefoot in just the bloodied up jeans he'd been captured in. This was just overwhelming, particularly with the addition of the city's fake sunlight and atmosphere.

Dillon pet the younger man's hair a bit, trying not to move too much just yet. "You doing okay?" he asked, voice a good deal softer than it had been while they were with the evil lord. When Ziggy nodded a bit, the older male leaned down, picking up his friend to carry back to the car. They were going to have a TON of explaining to do, but hopefully they were safe for now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

So you all know, this is NOT the last chapter. I'll be doing an epilogue and more of Fevered tomorrow. After all, Lord Zygon insisted I write the fic and Lord Zygon wants a proper ending.

* * *

Dillon and Ziggy were just heading back to the Garage when Dr. K's voice came over the radio. "Ranger Black! There's an emergency by the waterfront! Some of Venjix's new upgraded Attackbots have arrived and we need you there pronto! Ranger Series Black, please respond!"

The man pressed the button on his com, heading her way, "We're on our way." he told her quickly, after turning to glance at Ziggy, checking if the younger man was up to this. The smaller brunette was slumped against the car and wearing Dillon's ranger jacket, which practically swam on him, but he nodded just the same, eyes determined. There was no time for coddling or recovery right now – their friends needed help.

"If you start feeling faint-" Dillon's warning was cut off by his friend's hand lightly touching his own. "I know." Ziggy assured him and smiled a bit, the mechanical bond between them letting the younger male know his companion's feelings, even before the older man could properly figure out the words to express them. There was no time to comment on the weirdness of that, however, as Dillon gunned the engine and headed towards the city's large, fake waterfront area.

What they saw there was a fuckton of upgraded grinders and a monster that highly looked like a piranha and a bulldozer had a baby. Dillon and Ziggy hopped out nearby to join the fray, most of the team already morphed and ready to go.

"Ziggy! Dillon!" their names were cheered by their friends, all of whom looked very glad to see the pair safe and alive. Though Summer was quick to ask some very important questions they were all wondering on seeing the duo.

As the former ranger took up a spot between her and Tenaya fighting grinders, the older female fired off her queries, "Where have you been, Ziggy? And what happened to your pants?" Considering his pants were torn in several places and dyed a red-brown with caked on blood, that was a legitimate question.

Ziggy barely took a minute to glance down before having to duck out of the way of a ton of grinders. He was doing it pretty well for still being in his recovery period, really. "I'd rather not explain right now. It's kind of hard to think, explain and fight grinders."

"Yeah, leave the storytelling-"

"-till we can all listen!" Gem and Gemma briefly jumped by to fend off the Attackbot that had tried to escape from them and Scott, going after Ziggy since he was the only one de-morphed at this point.

"Thanks you two!" Ziggy called, ducking out of the way of more grinders so he could grab a pole to fend them off. "Yeesh, did Venjix add a caffeine intake to these things when he improved them? They're hyper." He managed to knock the heads off of several with his pole, but they kept coming till he hit their chests.

Scott shook his head as he stood up, having been thrown back by the monster, "You would know, Ziggy." he called before heading back into the fray. They were finally clearing out the grinders but this new bot was apparently having a blast dashing over to grab up the remains of the grinders and swallow them in its huge jaws, adding to the thing's energy. By the time all of the grinders were gone, the beast was massively powerful and throwing them off with ease. Dillon had shouted for Ziggy to go wait by the car but the younger man couldn't bring himself to move, staring in fury and horror at his friends getting massacred by this thing, sparks flying from their uniforms and even a few rips forming in a few places.

When Dillon got thrown into a concrete wall for the third or fourth time, the sickening crunch heard, mingled with the usual shower of sparks, was enough to set Ziggy off. Without even thinking, the young man pulled a spare engine cell from Dillon's jacket and shoved it into his out-of-order morpher, ignoring all of the screams of his friends not to do it. The fact that it was one of Dillon's spare engine cells wasn't a matter, and neither was the fact that his morpher didn't work – all that mattered to Ziggy right now was that this bot was going down and FAST. What happened, however, when the mismatched engine cell and broken morpher met was a huge explosion.

Dr. K, back at the Garage, stared in shock and horror as her computer started to show radically odd readings – the other rangers were de-morphed now but the Ranger Green suit had vanished from it's glass case, despite her computer saying it wasn't online. She'd told Ziggy that if he tried to morph again, his suit might end up destroyed, but this wasn't supposed to happen. Hell, last she'd heard, Ziggy was MIA.

"Rangers? RANGERS! Speak to me! What's happened?" she shouted, hoping they were all conscious and that someone could reply.

Scott's voice crackled over her com, trying to explain though he was obviously distressed. "Doc, Dillon showed up to the fight with Ziggy and Ziggy was apparently borrowing his Series Black jacket. We were taking some serious damage and Zigs tried to morph with one of the spare engine cells in Dillon's jacket. Then the area around him exploded but we lost our morphs before we could go in and try to help."

K stared at her screen once more, that was NOT good – mixing the energies of the bad morpher and the wrong engine cell had caused an explosion. She was about to ask them to come back before things got too dangerous when another, much more cheery version of Scott's voice came on the line, "Well luckily for you all, our K sent us over to help out!"

On the battlefield, the Alternate RPM team had returned, looking revved up and ready for action. Their leader headed over to help Scott up. "Got enough juice to try again, or do you need these upgraded engine-cells we were sent with to give you guys an extra boost?" he asked the regular Scott who grinned, taking the offered cell and preparing to morph.

Dillon had started to rush over to see if he could find Ziggy amongst the rubble, but his counterpart held him back, "We can't worry about him right now, we need to beat this thing first." Reluctantly, Dillon nodded and re-morphed with the new engine cell, getting ready to take on this beast and give in back some hurt.

The team was able to reassemble now, their suits repaired and a perfect team of 7 pairs of the exact same rangers, all ready to do some major ass kicking. The monster looked very much flabbergasted till two more versions of itself jumped out of the water behind the beast, Venjix apparently stealing some of Zygon's tricks. However, with both teams a good deal more prepared and ready to fight, things were a good bit more even.

The group was handling the trio of bots pretty well, but three was still too much. The pairs charged anyway, weapons blazing and tried to do as much damage as possible. Even their combined weapons weren't doing enough against these three monsters. Had there been two, it might've worked a tad better. Things were looking a good deal tougher when all of the sudden, a new shout rang out from behind the bots.

"VERTIGO STRIKE!"

All as one, the monsters were struck from behind with what seemed like lightning, causing them to fall, leaving the being behind them clearly in view when he reappeared. It was an RPM Ranger, but his uniform was white and the marks on his helmet made it seem almost draconic in design. He was holding a slightly smaller white version of the turbo axe in each hand.

Standing up, the guy looked at his weapons and shrugged, "Huh, didn't know I could do that." Ziggy's voice came from the helmet as the teams stared in awe at him. "Then again, I also didn't know putting the wrong cell into a broken morpher would change my Series colors, but there you go."

Dr. K's shrill voice exploded over the com-link, causing the young man to jump in surprise. "SERIES GRE-er WHITE! GET BACK TO THE LABS PRONTO!"

"Sorry, can't just yet." he called back, watching as the three monsters he'd just help to end started to grow. "We have other fish to fry first." And with that he summoned the Shark Zord, amused as it turned white and started to bear more than a small resemblance to a small dragon. In the driver's seat, the new white ranger grinned, "Now THIS is what I'm talkin about!"

Dillon's chuckling could be heard over the link, but Ziggy smiled a bit as he felt the older man's mirth in his mind a bit too. Oh this was going to get interesting. His smile widened behind the helmet as he heard an exasperated K say they were go for new Ultrazord configuration. And really, who wanted to argue with that?

Soon enough there was only rubble in place of the massive Venjix Bots, the two nearly matching zords being more than a match for there three large scale – particularly since the armor damage Ziggy's attack had done. Whatever his new weapons were, they packed a nice after effect.

Back at the base, the two teams shook hands and bid their farewells, the new tech they'd brought and the warning they'd been sent with – that Dillon and Ziggy might be trapped in their world – already given. Luckily, the latter hadn't been necessary, but the alternate Dillon seemed to have a funny look on his face when he was told, and he promised to give Lord Zygon what he deserved for toying with the pair.

K was more than happy to lecture Ziggy when he got back, angry at him for trying to morph when it could have killed him. He cut her off very quickly and solidly by taking off Dillon's jacket to reveal the barely visible scars of the upgrading surgery, which, when coupled with the state of his pants was enough to show his safety was the last of his concerns at the moment.

"I'm going to have to scan you both for the virus and hope I can disable it again in you." she stated nervously, turning away from him so as not to become too emotional. Ranger Series Black, Ranger Series Gr-White I'm going to need you both to sit down in here so I can do so."

Dillon ruffled Ziggy's hair a bit as he sat in a chair, close to where his friend was on the examining table. The younger man had to go first after all since they had no idea what kind of technological upgrades he'd been given. The younger male grinned tiredly, reaching out to take hold of Dillon's hand a bit. He looked ready to drift off, but a small portion at the back of the older man's mind told him that wasn't quite the case.

_So do you think this bonding stuff will affect our love lives?_

Dillon jumped at the words in his head but he suddenly understood why he was hearing them. He had vaguely been hearing and feeling all sorts of things from Ziggy since Zygon had bonded them, but he'd ignored it till this point, his mind buzzing too much before now to clearly pay attention.

_I don't know, but since when did you have a love life anyway, Grover?_ Dillon shot back, having to concentrate not to say it out loud. He felt the younger man's laughter and noticed the smile forming on his features. Well that was good at least.

_Aren't you the one who was accusing me of not telling you I had a date planned the other day when you caught me wearing coverup?_

The older male snorted and rolled his eyes, trying to make the sarcasm in his thoughts obvious, _Because that totally wasn't me just being embarrassed that my best friend was wearing makeup. _

K had started the scan by this point and Dillon had to move away from the table a bit. He did discover, during this time, that the bond didn't really care if they were close by, so they could still talk. _These past few days have been hell._ The black ranger thought, standing by the door and wondering if he should get a smoothie.

_Days? Pfft, try months. Zygon kept me locked up there for a pretty damn long time while giving me my upgrades – wanted me to be recuperated enough that I wouldn't die while bonding with you. And that's not counting the days of feeling like crap while my suit was dying for no reason beforehand._ The annoyance and misery in the younger man's thoughts were something Dillon wasn't quite used to and caused him to wince a bit.

_Sorry,_ He thought back, trying to think of a way to make it up to the younger man, help him relax. Sadly, that just caused Dillon's thoughts to jump once again to the fact that sleeping with Ziggy would probably relieve quite a good deal of tension from both of them, if he'd bother considering it. But screwing your best friend is not something one should think about while he's being scanned for a virus that could take over both of you.

_Particularly when said friend can read your mind._ Ziggy added with a small smirk, causing Dillon to whip his head around and stare at the younger man for a second. He didn't have time to finish that little conversation, however, because K had finished her scan and was looking unbelievably pale and confused.

"Ranger White...according to this scan, not only has a great deal of your body been converted to a level of machine I don't have in my system...but it also features that same virus killing serum that can be found in the alternate Series Purple and Black, as well as in our Series Purple and if I'm reading right...you're bonded with someone?" She raised a brow at that, "I haven't seen something like that happen to a person before – the only one I've scanned with something of that nature was the other Dillon and he wouldn't explain it."

Ziggy sat up quickly, heading over to stare at her computer screens in surprise. That didn't sound right at all, but there it was plain as day – he didn't have the virus. Carefully gripping the table as he started to feel weak again – his recovery from the bonding and last surgeries not quite finished yet – the young man found himself quietly mumbling that he really need a nap now.

Dillon carried his friend upstairs to their room, and went to place Ziggy on the younger man's bed when the door slammed behind them and the familiar clicking of Lord Zygon's heels could be heard.

"So you two made it back all right. Good to know." he said calmly, Dillon looked ready to commit bloody murder, but his arms were full of a weak and sleepy looking Ziggy. This left the other man time to speak, "You two also probably discovered at least part of my little charade by now."

"What're you talking about?" the older ranger hissed darkly, not at all comfortable being in the same room with the man who had essentially tortured his best friend for some time.

Zygon laughed a bit, but it wasn't the derisive kind that he usually made. Carefully, he reached up to push the button on his visor, turning it off so his face was visible. He was a bit too thin and his eyes dark ringed, making him look sickly and weak. But the lord's eyes were a firm and powerful brown that looked all too familiar, particularly with the one curl that escaped his ponytail and fell in his face.

"Long before I was known as Lord Zygon, my name was Ziggy Grover. I was captured along with many others to become part of Venjix's early experiments on creating hybrids. I managed to break free for a time and synthesize a cure for the virus since my new upgrades increased my intelligence a good deal. I attempted to use this to rescue my fellow prisoners but we were recaptured. Two of the prisoners I tried to save I became close with – a young man and his sister who happened to require the upgrades since she was blind and rather sick. I tried to help them both stay together and sane in that place, but the young man's upgrades didn't agree with him very well. With my new brain power, I was able to figure out that I could bond with him and save his life as well as curing him of the virus. I managed to get him and his sister fully cured of the virus and out of Venjix's hands, but at a price – I had to become his willing slave or he'd destroy the two people who were the only living family I had left."

Dillon's eye twitched a bit as he watched the very strange version of his friend tell a very familiar story, but he didn't stop Zygon continuing. This was all a lot to take in, but somehow, he knew it was necessary to hear to understand just what the hell was going on.

"My other half and I ended up fighting quite a lot, though our bond kept us closer than was safe, particularly with him joining the Power Rangers. Eventually, it became our downfall – I ended up having a secret affair with my enemy behind my master's back. It displeased Venjix but I was the best of the best and no one there would trifle with me. I had gained notoriety among Venjix's generals as the mighty and terrible Lord Zygon, believed to be the most cruel and insane of all his attempted hybrids. Over time, I began to form my own upgrades, long surpassing the rest of Venjix's tech. I was obligated to share bits and pieces of this, lest my loved ones suffer for it. But Venjix had no idea just how far beyond him I truly was. When I came to this world, I was lucky enough to find not only was the virus weak enough to conquer here, but my counterpart actually was able to have a free life, having joined the rangers in Aya's stead. So, I set about making things right, for I am the meddling sort, particularly with most of my stronger inhibitions and morals disabled."

Dillon stared at the other man, beginning to understand where this was going, "So you caused that Attackbot Tenaya was with to go haywire so she'd come back and meet her other self and you could 'decommission' her, to free her?" it was all too mind-boggling. Ziggy himself was lying barely conscious in his friend's arms and having a slightly easier time taking this in – he'd already realized who Zygon was and months with a person did give a slight insight to their life, especially when they're you and you know it.

Zygon smiled that sad smile again and nodded, "Yes. And I captured my other self to give him the necessary upgrades that would allow him to have and control the Ranger powers once more, rather than being killed by their draining his life force to try and work."

This time, the younger brunette spoke up, "So why bond us? I wasn't dying from the upgrades and you didn't actually want Dillon to work for Venjix."

His other self laughed a little at that, "I told you before – I'm the meddling sort. Besides destroying Venjix's barely existent hold over your friend, it also allows you both to survive off of eachother's upgrades and be a better team at the very least, if not more." his last words were said with a bright smile and a twinkle to those brown eyes, "Now I need to get back to my world. I used the last of my tech to upgrade you and I intend to end things with Venjix enough to at least give the team there a decent head start on destroying the damn thing." And with those words, he was gone, leaving Ziggy and Dillon both very confused.

The older male laid his friend carefully on the bed this time and smiled, "Are all of your alternate selves weirdos?" he joked, squeezing Ziggy's hand a bit. He didn't have to say how much he'd worried about the younger man, how upset he'd been not having Ziggy there – the other knew.

"Naw, just the ones that know you." the new white ranger teased, curling up a bit for a nap. As Dillon stood to leave the room, a thought drifted his way from his partner's head.

_We can discuss relieving tension through sex when I get up. I might be more open to it when I've had some real sleep._ And on that high note, and with a smile on his face, the older man exited the room, heading downstairs. Unbeknownst to him, things were just starting to happen in the other world, rather than winding down.


	7. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** More fun fanficing. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners. Except Lord Zygon – he's mine. Sorta.

I love reviews and I do respond to emails so feel free to send questions.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). No porn or anything like that, but there will be some unresolved sexual tension, some resolved sexual tension, and some romance.. Please keep this in mind. Main pairings are Diggy and Kenaya. Also, this is an AU fic with some possible series spoilers. Thanks for your time, and enjoy!

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On the other side of the portal, Lord Zygon was preparing his final stand. The man loved a grand entrance and he'd be making a grand exit too. He had discovered from a very irate and worried Series Black that Aya had been captured by Venjix and it was supposedly on Zygon's orders. Needless to say, they'd fought about it before he'd agreed to help the Ranger rescue his little sister – they were family, after all.

He had known Venjix would double cross him – had known it from the moment the virus had conceded to his wishes years before. A machine can have no true loyalty to a man, particularly not a machine that is out to destroy the human race. So he'd been preparing, always several steps ahead of Venjix with his tech designs. But it was never enough, his upgrades were always discovered. Finally, Zygon had decided to do the cruelest thing he could – supremely upgraded his counterpart with the rest of his tech to spite two versions of Venjix at once.

Zygon's tech, besides what was in Ziggy Grover and Zygon himself, was now all gone. He had been covertly using the Venjix-cure serum to destroy a lot of his own creations behind his master's back, making it easier for the Power Rangers to hang on. Today he had prepared one final stand. Ranger Black was to sneak in and get his sister out of where she was being kept. When they were gone, Zygon would be detonating the charges he had installed throughout the palace and destroy a good deal of Venjix's work. But there was one part of the plan he hadn't bothered to tell them.

Stalking pleasantly into the throne room, his lordship grinned at the silver tower housing his Master. "Good to see you again, Venjix. How've you been doing?" he asked cheerily, a huge device slung over his shoulder as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Which, to Venjix, it was – that's always how Zygon brought him new bits of tech.

The red eye glowed a bit, unsuspecting that the man before him knew about the treachery of capturing Aya, "As well as they always are, Lord Zygon. Now, what have you brought your Master today?" the cold metallic voice could still almost sound gleeful, loving being in control of so much, particularly since the virus knew how much pride the hybrid had.

"What this?" Zygon grinned, patting the machine, "This is the one and only Inter-Dimensional Portal maker. I cobbled it together from stuff and things." he said cheerily, patting it once more. This bit of tech did have many uses to Venjix.

The red glow lit up more, almost laughing, "Excellent! I will be able to travel to other worlds and conquer them all with the help of my counterparts there!"

"Something like that, yeah." Zygon mumbled, bouncing the large device on his shoulder and checking his watch. He did this a few times for another minute or so before grinning widely and holding up his hand towards Venjix, palm open and 5 fingers held up.

The virus's tone grew deeper and the generals in the area – all too scared of Zygon to speak – peered at him in confusion, "What are you doing, Zygon?" however, it received no answer as the man behind the visor slowly counted down on his fingers till the alarms in the building went off signalling Rangers Black and Purple's escape.

"YOU! YOU HAVE BETRAYED YOUR MASTER?" the words from the silver tower were menacing and grinders were summoned quickly, all surrounding the lord as he remained non-plussed.

Zygon smiled again finally, "Eeeeeee-yep. That's about the size of it." he hopped on his toes a few times before his smile darkened, "Oh and Venjix? You're never getting this portal tech, thanks."

At that point, the lord did the unthinkable – he detonated his own mechanics, setting off the charges all over the building with the act and blowing the palace sky high. Venjix barely managed to download into a body fast enough to get out of the rubble, his other generals barely able to drag themselves away either. The palace, anything that was in progress, and a whole ton of grinders were now in ruins, even if it hadn't been enough to kill the virus. But still, there was one good note in the whole mess. Lying in the wreckage was the in-tact portal device.

Kilobyte laughed, heading over to retrieve it, "Looks as if Zygon failed his foolish attempt, Master Venjix. You still have the portal device's hardware,". However, as the machine opened up the top of the device to check on it's internal circuitry, he found a well protected smaller bomb, set to explode a little later than the others, with a note that read, in the hybrid's awkward scrawl, "You never learn, do you?"

Light was the first thing that greeted Lord Zygon after the blast. Was this heaven? If so, it sure felt like the ground in the wastes. Sitting up awkwardly, the young man tossed his now loose curls from his face and threw off the broken visor that had covered his eyes for the last several years.

"Took you long enough," Dillon's voice was heard behind him and just as he turned to see the older man, Zygon felt himself being lifted up roughly by the arm and dusted off, "I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to forcibly remove that damn visor."

The hybrid winced visibly at the grip, "Ow dammit, I just blew myself up, not so rough man." he grumbled, looking a good deal more like the regular Ziggy at this moment. "The hell are you still doing here anyway? Didn't we agree you were just getting Aya and leaving?"

The ranger rolled his eyes visibly before pulling the other man into a small hug, "You think I wouldn't come back for you, Zig?" he asked quietly, petting those soft curls he hadn't seen let out of their strict ponytail in years. It was nice having his actual boyfriend back.

"Yes actually, considering last time we met you were pretty damn venomous." despite his words, the younger male did snuggle a tad closer to his lover, aching a good bit from the explosions that had recently racked his body.

Dillon smiled a bit, rubbing small circles against his boyfriend's back, "Well I was worried. And maybe a little jealous since we had recently got wind that you had captured your counterpart and mine and bonded them together." it was hard for him to admit it, but Dillon was easily jealous of his alternate self and his close relationship with that Ziggy. Particularly since he half worried that Zygon might prefer that self who wasn't always chasing after and protecting his little sister, seeing as she was evil there.

The thinner man snorted a bit at that, "You're a weirdo. I was trying to finish things off and help that other team out. Not my fault I have to keep up the pretenses of being evil." he grumbled. Well okay, yes it was his fault, seeing as Zygon kind of was the one who chose to deal with Venjix, but he was a lovestruck young man, what could he do?

"So I realized, eventually. We had to go save their asses and were planning on warning the other team that you were keeping their friends, but met them there. Your counterpart apparently also has a problem about blowing himself up."

That brought a full laugh out of the curly haired male, "What'd he do? Try to use that broken morpher of his?" honestly, his other half was an idiot still, the mental upgrades not nearly as strong in his crazed benefactor – Zygon had long since learned those were not as good to cope with as the rest of them.

Dillon nodded, "Yeah, with one of the other me's engine cells – we showed up right after that explosion, and from what I heard, he was being stupid because his best friend got hurt." the laughter between the both of them died at that and for a moment, the pair was silent, looking at each other and just being happy. It might have ended with a kiss, had another voice not interrupted their reverie quite rudely.

"I know you two are glad to see each other and all, but we need to get back before the rest get too worried and try to come after us. Especially if we hope to convince them to not kill Ziggy soon as we get there." Aya was leaning pleasantly against some of the rubble and looking amused at the whole ordeal, particularly the frustrated look her brother was giving her. The cockblocking little sister had struck again.

Zygon chuckled a little, shaking his head, "You didn't bring your car did you?" he asked, still a good bit shaky from the explosion. He'd built his internal mechanics a bit too well for his own good, and they were still somewhat functional, but it still hurt like a bitch to have done that.

Dillon raised a brow at his friend, "No. You said it would draw too much attention." he pointed out. Zygon hadn't mentioned they'd need a way back since he had intended to kill himself then and didn't want to make it obvious. Though, hiding things like that from a guy who can read your mind is a bit awkward.

_Yes it is. Now do you need help porting us home or what?_

Zygon – or Ziggy, as he guessed he'd now be going by – smacked his lover lightly in the chest and held out a hand for Aya so he could try and teleport them as a group. The young woman walked over to wrap her arms lightly around her brothers – one adopted, one by blood. Ziggy rolled his eyes this time and tried to summon up whatever power was in him to send them.

_I don't know if I have the juice to get us all the way there. Unless you have something in mind, we're going to be walking a good way._ He felt Dillon shifting carefully against him before raising a brow as the man pulled something small out of his pocket.

"New White Ranger morpher – K's been working on a new morpher forever and after the other you managed to upgrade his Green powers, she thought it'd be best to use those to finish it. We've been saving it for you." Dillon whispered in his ear, holding the younger man close. Aya just smirked and helped him put it on Ziggy's left wrist, which was draped over her, his right arm around Dillon.

The man smiled, "You two are awful." he said, pulling away from them long enough to morph and let the power of Series White flow through him. "Well that oughta do it." he said with a huge smile, taking hold of them carefully once more and porting the three directly into Dr. K's lab, where the rest of the team were waiting. And not too pleased when they were told the truth, but it'd grow on them.

Back in the original world, Ziggy was standing in Dr. K's lab next to Tenaya, the rest of the team going over the schematics of the two new Series. The young man had had to take a few days of rest before this point, but with all that'd been going on, it was acceptable. Whether or not things changing between him and Dillon made his recovery slower or faster was anyone's guess, but given Tenaya had a good bit of adjusting to do too, it wasn't a big deal.

"So, Doc, we've got two new team members – so to speak, anyway – what can you tell us about them?" Scott started, hands clasped behind his back as he grinned up at Ziggy and smiled a little at Tenaya. She shifted awkwardly, not completely comfortable in the suit, let alone without her helmet and in front of the team, but a gentle nudge from Ziggy and a wink was a bit helpful. He was going through this too, even if not exactly the same way, and it was comforting to know she was accepted by someone. Even if she'd previously picked on that someone a good deal.

K typed out a few more things on her computer, bringing up the detailed information on Series Purple to the many monitors she had in the room. "The Series Purple technology comes equipped with the weapon Soul Glaive and uses the power Energy Siphon, allowing her to take power from an enemy and give to a comrade. This is enough to destroy a grinder or two, and severely weaken some attackbots. I am in the process of working on her Zord at present. It was designed to be feline themed for some strange reason my counterpart wouldn't tell me."

The team nodded their approval and Ziggy grinned at Tenaya, nudging her shoulder lightly with his. The girl nudged back a little and had he not been upgraded recently, he might've fallen off the podiums they stood on. It was starting to get easier to pal around with the others, even if it was a struggle on both sides.

Next up was the info on Ziggy's suit, "The Series White tech is an upgraded version of the original Series Green. Its weapons are the Vertigo Blades, which tend to take on the form of whichever bladed weapon their master summons at the time – I believe they became miniature Turbo Axes initially because that was the weapon Ziggy was most used to." she coughed a little on saying his name but went back to her speech quickly so as not to draw too much attention to it, "His Special Ability is the Intangibility Bubble. For a few seconds, Series White does not exist in our world and neither does anyone within the bubble with him. This is best used in conjunction with the teleportation power formed from his new upgrades and the remaining Series Green power. Any questions?"

Ziggy grinned, as the rest of the team started to ask minor questions – when they'd be ready to fight, how much testing needed to be done with the new powers, things like that. Eventually, Dillon spoke up, voicing something that had been bugging him for a while, "What happened during that explosion that came after his suit changed?"

Dr. K punched a few more commands into her keyboard before bringing up a technical readout. "There was an extreme backlash of energy when the suit changed, particularly because the Engine Cell was inappropriate. Ziggy's new upgrades allowed him to survive the changeover and gave him enough of a power boost that when he first changed, his intangibility bubble took over for an increased amount of time to allow him to recover from the alteration and survive any sudden attacks. It took attacking the three Attackbots to wear out the extra energy and release the bubble. That effect should not reoccur and I do not suggest trying what he did on yourselves – it was a highly improbable and near impossible occurrence based on coincidental factors that are not likely to be present again."

Ziggy grinned at this point, "So what you're saying is don't try this at home." he told her with a grin, ducking and hopping back out of the way of a paperweight she threw at him.

"No, Ranger White – do NOT try this. Ever. Again!" more paperweights were chucked at his head, one even nearly hitting. However, Ziggy's arm moved of its own accord, smacking it down and keeping him uninjured.

Dillon smiled. "This might take some getting used to." he commented, heading over to help the still kind of stunned Ziggy up, "Come on, Ranger White, let's go see about teaching you how to work with those improved reflexes."

Tenaya, demorphed by this point, made to follow, "I should help too, I do have experience with a few more upgrades than you have had, Ranger Black." she stated with a sly grin that showed she knew just what they actually had planned.

Her elder brother glanced back at her, a dark look on his face, "Yeah, but you still owe Dr. K some time. And I think she'll pull the fridge cannon out if you try to leave." he commented, stalking off with a smirk, his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. The rest of the team followed slowly, heading for different ends of the building, though Summer did look suspiciously like she was sneaking after Dillon and Ziggy, not that Tenaya blamed her.

Turning back, the brunette grinned at Dr. K. "So, what shall we do with this 'time' I supposedly owe you?" she suggested with that same sly smirk.

"I have no idea what you're referring to, Ranger Series Purple." Dr. K replied in a hasty fashion, cleaning up her paperweights and trying to hide the blush on her features. The last one she reached for, Tenaya picked up first to hand back, "I think you do." And somehow, K was pretty sure she did.


End file.
